Pla del Puig Primary Schools

Coll-Leclerc Arquitectos

Short description

Due to its location on a plot located on the border between the urban territory of the municipality of Sant Fruitós and the agricultural fields, we designed the Pla del Puig complex based on passive strategies to minimize its environmental impact.

The 2000m2 school is articulated in two main volumes connected by a central passage. Its location on the northern limit of the plot was chosen to relate to the built-up front of the urban core, leaving the rest of the site free towards the south and the rural landscape. The two volumes have different heights, of one and two floors. The highest one houses the primary school spaces, the one-storey one the infant school. The volumetric disarticulation allows the school to integrate with the scale of the built environment, avoiding the formation of an extensive continuous facade built to the north and avoiding noise, also considering that in a second phase the school will be expanded with a new gymnasium located in the same front.

The site slopes-up 6 meters southwards. Taking this into account and the need to respect the access,
we articulate the project in three exterior levels: access, playground and field, organizing the terraces and the existing vegetation of fig and almond trees (which are maintained) adding new deciduous trees to provide shade in summer. The construction technique of terraces found on the site was replicated to allow water filtration. The earthworks for the excavations and the organization of the exterior areas were carried out with a zero balance of new soil.

Regarding the energy efficiency of the building, the strategies and technologies applied allowed the annual energy demand to be lowered to 22.73 kWh/m2, with a heating demand of 11.3KWh/m2year, below the standard 15 kWh/m2year Passivhaus, reaching a class A certification. The interior partitions of wooden frames are removable and the envelopes are made of 40 cm vertical wood/cement plates, which recall the fragility of some farms.